Cameron Edwards chosen for Partners in Agricultural Leadership program

Louisville, KY (April 1, 2015) – The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has chosen a group of 10 young agricultural leaders from across the country to participate in the eighth class of the Partners in Agricultural Leadership (PAL) honors program, and for the second time Kentucky is represented in the class. Cameron Edwards, Kentucky Farm Bureau’s 2014 Discussion Meet winner, was selected for the 2015-16 program.

Cameron Edwards (center), winner of the 2014 Discussion Meet at Kentucky Farm Bureau’s annual meeting in Louisville, is presented with his award by David S. Beck, KFB Executive Vice President (right), and Scott Christmas, KFB Director of Agricultural Education, Women and Young Farmer Programs (left).

Edwards, a resident of Webster County, is currently employed as the general manager of VOCARS, and environmental recycling services company headquartered in Louisville and operating across the state. Through his work at VOCARS, the Georgetown College graduate oversees the purchasing and collection of raw materials that are then processed and brokered into industries that manufacture products ranging from biofuels to livestock feed. Edwards also works as part of his family’s 5,000-acre upland wing-shooting preserve and agritourism business, Winghaven Lodge, where they raise and harvest varied species of upland birds and waterfowl by the hundreds of thousands and breed a wide variety of hunting dogs.

The focus of AFBF’s PAL program is to enhance participants’ leadership skills and aid them in discovering how they can best use their abilities for the benefit of agriculture. The program offers young farmers and ranchers the opportunity to continue building their skills after they have served as AFBF Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) Committee members/officers or competed in national YF&R events.

“The new PAL class represents the very ‘best of the best’ among today’s farmers, ranchers and agri-business professionals,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “We look forward to working with them as they embark on an exciting journey that will equip them as vital contributors to our agricultural outreach efforts.”

AFBF created the PAL curriculum as a high-level, executive training program that prepares participants to represent agriculture in the media, in public speaking, in congressional testimony and other advocacy arenas. PAL training involves four learning modules designed to develop specific leadership skills while exploring components of leadership and its theories and philosophies. The modules build on one another over the two years of the program and include intense, in-person, hands-on training. Program graduates are also given opportunities to step forward and promote awareness about issues important to farmers and consumers.

State Farm Bureaus can submit one applicant for consideration for the PAL program. Applicants must be “Sweet 16” finalists in the national YF&R Discussion Meet, top 10 finalists in the YF&R Achievement Award or Excellence in Agriculture Award competitions, former members of the AFBF YF&R committee or former state YF&R committee chairs.